Companion Change Feedback

[Satsuke]

How you communicate is just as important as what you communicate. And the method, consistency, and content of communication from BioWare is horrible.

 

This. But to be fair, BioWare has been wildly inconsistent in their communication since...well forever : /

[jgoldsack]

• Your level: 65
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating: 208 PvP
  
• Discipline: Assassin Darkness
  
• Companion: Lana Beniko
  
• Companion role: Healing
  
• Companion Influence level: 32
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?): Heroic Tatooine Star Fortress
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content
  

 

Before the companion adjustments, I could breeze though the heroics in about 30 minutes without ever dropping below 90%. As a primary solo player, I found this to be fun for me.

 

After companion adjustments, I breezed through the Tatooine Heroic in about 30 minutes.. up until the last 2 groups before the final Exarch battle. I had all 4 alliance buffs, and I used them on the first group, along with heroic moment. That group simply melted. I did this on purpose, so I could compare to the second group in the next room. I had no alliance buffs, and no heroic moment... and I came VERY close to dying. Utilized every defensive cooldown I had, and even used a medpack (people still used those?), and still came close at least 3 times that I remember. The last mob in the group died, and I was at 5%, Lana was at 10%. Her heals were on average 1200 - 1800, with crits around 8k occasionally. TBH I was more concerned with trying to stay alive than seeing the healing numbers.

 

The actual Exarch encounter was more or less the same. First half of the fight, I used 3 alliance buffs (saved the healing one) and heroic moment, and melted the Exarch to 60% very fast, after that it was almost identical to the trash groups.. lots of damage, little healing, almost died a couple times again, but again used all my cooldowns, medpack, and the alliance healing buff. Killed the Exarch with 15% health left, and Lana had about 10%.

 

Was for sure a challenge, but was really really stressful.

 

As far as planetary heroics go, I have done them all minus a couple early planets, and have had zero issues with them.

[tmwfte]

is it ok to discuss this? I don't want to get a warning again for saying I canceled my account over Biowares actions. Which by the way is my choice to cancel my account when I feel like it and I should be able to say that in a thread without being threatened for being banned.

 

It'll just get moved to off-topic, because apparently discussing BioWare, changes to SWTOR, and your subscription aren't, you know, about the game. And that they don't really care.

[MaximusRex]

Instead of celebrating your devs bias, you should listen to the community, which shows that more than 70% of your players are not happy with the changes at all.

 

Please link this data that shows 100's of thousands of people are unhappy. I would certainly like to see it.

[MoyaSP]

• 
   
  My character:
  
• Your level
   
  54
   
   
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating
   
  127 or so
   
   
  
• Discipline
   
  Sith Marauder (Fury)
   
   
  
• Companion
   
  Vette
   
   
  
• Companion role
   
  Healer
   
   
  
• Companion Influence level
   
  37
   
   
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?)
   
  Mainly testing new companions on solo heroic missions, one scaled down on Dromund Kaas (Don't know name of it right now, the one with the Sith runes and the boss, mainly doing the boss as the outside stuff is not that hard)
   
  and a second test to Corellia to do the Wookie battlemaster Heroic quest as it has a fair amount of Elite mobs.
   
   
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content
   
  The Sith rune boss was very easy, so scaled down content seems to be okay by far still.
   
  The wookie quest though was incredibly hard, even with heroic moment and all defensive cooldowns used I got down quite far on the hardest pulls or if I got an add in the middle of fight (I had 5 mobs without a break because of bad luck). I managed it in the end through being careful and trying to think things a bit more, using the clickable containers that explode where possible.. But I still feel that perhaps this is not the best level of difficulty for the average player for heroics (it seems non scaled content to me atleast is Much harder because you aren't on the higher side of the stats for the area which you would be for scaling down).
   
  37 seems a very high level for a companion even at 54 for a lot of posters on forums.. for me it is not as I always give 50k or so of vendor companion gifts to a companion at level 10 to get a bit of a boost early on and so not everyone will have as high a companion as I did.. My gear was not the best so this would have made it a bit harder for me though, but still think my companion was above average.
   
   
   
  

 

 

• 
  My wife:
  
• Your level
   
  53
   
   
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating
   
  127 or so
   
  
• Discipline
   
  Sith Juggernaut (Vengeance)
   
  
• Companion
   
  Quinn
   
   
  
• Companion role
   
  Healer
   
   
  
• Companion Influence level
   
  27
   
   
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?)
   
  She did the tests on her char at the same time on her own while i did mine on my own.
   
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content
   
  She had the same experience as I did, but had a bit of an easier time because of heavy armor and some taunts she could take aggro off her companion and get more concentrated heals on herself, she did it in around the same time, and found it tough but not too tough same as I did.
   
  posting her response because she doesn't go on forums but did tests to check new companion skills as well.
   
  

 

 

Conclusion: The new companion changes made things challenging, but not impossible.. But despite this, I would still feel that it perhaps could use being a slight bit easier on heroic missions, they are not very forgiving right now.

[CombatLord]

Yeah. Just that this state is exactly where Bioware has intended the game to be. Wherever you agree with it or not is up to you. Now it's also up to you to tell them why this state of the game is not acceptable. It is for them, and probably for a lot of the pre-4.0 playerbase as a whole. Funnily enough, most people from that time I have contact with report that the game still doesn't feel impossible at all. We tried everything to make us go on a more average level: Clicking abilities. Wearing green gear. Using companions below 50. Playing DPS instead of heal/tanks. We still can't seem to find an impossible quest...

 

That's what you get for advertising for casual players. Once they come they will demand everything and take over a game. It's kind of like sex without a condom. Good for the first few times, but then you realize what a horrible mistake that was nine months down the line. Just that it didn't take nine months here...

 

So you think that this game should only be for so called Hardcore players and no one else?? " Playing DPS instead of heal/tanks" so no one should play dps???. All that being said I am {only speaking for me} not canceling my sub and will try to adapt to the changes, I just think BW went a little far with the nerf bomb and could have approached it with a more balance instead.

[Nmyownworld]

The ones I tested are all missions I’ve done on these particular characters post-4.0, pre-4.0.2. I did not incur any repair costs from any of these, including a full defeat. That can't be right.

 

Level 65 Commando

 

Level 65

Item Rating: 208/216, with a few 220

Commando, Gunnery

Yuun – heals

Influence: 19

Mission: Never got that far

 

I use Legacy armor sets. I put my DPS Legacy armor set on, and spent about 35 seconds watching Yuun valiantly trying to heal up my Commando from the minor health loss that comes with switching armor. I logged out of the Commando. Yuun struggled to do that minor heal, no way was I going to fight with him.

 

Pre-4.0.2: Yuun at Influence 19 and below did respectable healing.

 

 

Level 65 Sniper

 

Level 65

Item Rating: 208/216, with a few 220, 220 & 208 barrels

Sniper, Marksman

Kaliyo heals and tank

Influence: 27

 

Mission: First Commando, Voss Heroic, Kaliyo healing

The Sniper and Kaliyo took enough damage that Kaliyo could not heal to have to regen between fights. Kaliyo did three very frustrating things: once a fight started, Kaliyo would not move from one spot. If the Sniper was within heal range, Kaliyo would usually do some heals. If not within range, Kaliyo would do her nails while the Sniper fought and lost health. Second, Kaliyo prioritize heals as her first, then the Sniper. If Kaliyo lost a little health, and the Sniper lost a lot of health, Kaliyo would still heal herself first. Third happened intermittently. Even if Kaliyo was standing next to the Sniper, Kaliyo would not do any heals until the fight was over.

 

The fights took longer than usual. Almost died on the final boss (very, very low health).

 

Mission: Lights Out, Belsavis Heroic, Kaliyo healing

 

Anything more than one gold and two silvers in a pack, and Kaliyo could not keep up heals. The Sniper was defeated once; had to use Biochem medpacks for three fights in the instance to keep from dying; had to use Heroic Moment (have all the class buffs) on final boss, and still had to use medpack and still almost died.

 

Mission: Yavin dailies, Kaliyo tanking

 

Kaliyo took more damage than pre-4.0.2, but was in no danger of dying. I did three of the dailies. Only golds were the artifact one; the mother bird/pterodactyl thing; and the big Lurker. Other than tank Kaliyo taking more damage than pre-4.0.2, the fights seemed the same.

 

 

Level 65 Gunslinger

 

Level 65

Item Rating: 208/216, with a few 220, 220 & 208 barrels

Gunslinger, Sharpshooter

Lana heals

Influence: 25

 

Mission: Nar Shaddaa Star Fortress

 

This character has gone through the first nine chapters of KotFE, so I tried a SF solo mode. Nar Shaddaa. After putting on my Legacy armor DPS set, Lana spammed the GS with heals of about 900 hp. Doom was in the air.

 

Did the Nar Shaddaa one for no particular reason. I’ve done all the solo SF, and one Heroic SF that bugged out at the end, with the final boss immediately one-shotting the companion, and then rapid fire stun-damage, stun-damage, rinse repeat my toon dead in about 10 seconds. Also bugged out by having my toon do a fair imitation of George of the Jungle, and repeatedly slamming the GS into the pillars below floor level when using the grapples (4 or 5 full defeats from those). I’m over the SF heroics.

 

The Nar Shaddaa SF, solo: I have the feeling that you, BW, lowered the number of mobs in SF. I’ve done the 6 SF weekly a few times, and greatly remember (without any fondness) wading through a whole lot of mobs that were giant sacks of health points. And those gold Knights. In today's run, taking down the few mobs I saw was not an issue because there weren’t that many of them, and no large packs of silvers and golds. I found one of the Paladins. I was going to skip it – Lana and her 900 health point/crits for 1100 heals seemed inadequate. But, you wanted a test. So I fought the Paladin. That thing handed me my *** on a platter. I did get it down to around 15% before defeat. Lana was already dead. Did the jail thing, and called it a day.

 

On a scale of 1 (newbie) to 5 (pro) I think I’m a solid 3 as a GS; and a 4 as a Sniper and Commando DPS. Perhaps as a Sniper or a Commando DPS, I could have squeezed out enough damage to take down the Paladin. Maybe. We’ll never know. I have no plan to put the Commando and Sniper through the KotFE story because it’s one story with only slight variations in dialog for different classes, and a whole lot of grind for the Alliance. An excellent story I enjoyed on my GS.

 

I think the companions were nerfed far too much with 4.0.2. As healers, the companions I tried today were terribad. I’m not a pro player, but I’ve played long enough to have a grasp of the game. With companions I preferred the pre-4.0 method of equipping them. Give me back the 192s for equipment, and I’d work from there. Companions could then be as powerful, or weak, as individual players liked. This one-size-fits-all 4.0 companion method is always going to be unbalanced, I think. It is dreadfully unbalanced right now, imo. Play is tedious, not fun.

 

As things are now, I will not extend my subscription.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Nmyownworld

[Bakuryu]

Yeah. Just that this state is exactly where Bioware has intended the game to be. Wherever you agree with it or not is up to you. Now it's also up to you to tell them why this state of the game is not acceptable. It is for them, and probably for a lot of the pre-4.0 playerbase as a whole. Funnily enough, most people from that time I have contact with report that the game still doesn't feel impossible at all. We tried everything to make us go on a more average level: Clicking abilities. Wearing green gear. Using companions below 50. Playing DPS instead of heal/tanks. We still can't seem to find an impossible quest...

 

I don't really think this thread is a bastion of support for the direction they seem to want to take the game.

 

I can't speak for others, but my problem isn't with the difficulty of any particular quest in the game, but rather with the tedium that this change represents. Alliance ranks were a grind even before this, but now I find it a slog. Companions at 4.0 did need a nerf; I agree with that much. However, companions are what a lot of 4.0 is actually about. It seems to me that this puts a spotlight on their performance, and as-is its underwhelming and makes the faster-paced combat promised pretty much the same as it was pre-4.0.

 

But hey, I've still got around two months of sub time left. I'll wait and see if they change things towards what I consider a more fun solo end-game progression or not in that time, but I'm not exactly optimistic.

[Trobon]

Please link this data that shows 100's of thousands of people are unhappy. I would certainly like to see it.

 

I'm sorry, even if it is not a scientific poll it can be very well surmised that if one poll from before the patch says 70% liked something and then after the patch 70% of people don't like, and both of those polls are well over 1000 people that you can see a general trend forming. That along with the general outcry on the forums, in the game and elsewhere I can't imagine that this is going over well for those "100's of thousands of people".

 

Unless someone can give nearly as much data saying people like it this way I think its safe to assume most people are upset over this.

[MaximusRex]

is it ok to discuss this? I don't want to get a warning again for saying I canceled my account over Biowares actions. Which by the way is my choice to cancel my account when I feel like it and I should be able to say that in a thread without being threatened for being banned.

 

I quit threads are type of troll post designed to create a hostile posting environment and are against the rules. Most MMOs will delete them and ban the player, BioWare just moves them to off topic and asks you to not do it again. It is your choice to cancel your account at any time, but you are not allowed to troll the forums about it. Also posting about forum moderation is against the rules, you should probably read them at some point, I suspect you might have some time coming up soon since you can't manage to follow them.

[Joefjr]

Delete Edited November 19, 2015 by Joefjr

[Alssaran]

But then, you're trotting out a strawman that people are calling the missions "impossible" and then mocking it, instead of listening to the fact that people are saying "possible, but tedious and not fun", so I don't expect you to understand the differences in quality of communication.

 

I have literally done everything to bring the skill level down to a considerable low average. I click abilities instead of pushing hotkeys. I use green gear. I use low influence companions. I don't use CC. Yet there are two or three quests in the entire terminal that might classify as "very hard". The rest (espescially on the lower planets) is just as easy and quick as it has been pre-nerf.

 

I've done everything to create a scenario where:

 

A. I could find proof that what they are saying is true.

B. I could get some data on how this might be tideous at best.

 

yet there is no possible way, even when driving down gameplay on purpose to a level far below average, that more than three or four quests on this terminal can give you serious trouble.

 

Why do people who have problems completing the quest or who say it is tideous don't start to actually go into the opposite direction? Equip 208 gear for example? That's easily accessible for most people by using CDC. I always keep hearing this: "Filthy elitists! We want everything to be soloable and quick on my low level!" when an MMORPG should be build up that stuff becomes less tideous and easier at max level the more equipment you have. And 208 purple gear is really not hard to come by. At all. Even a guy who only plays twice a week for an hour can have that gear full after a month (which has passed by now).

 

I'm not beating a strawman here. I have done everything to try and proof that the quest are indeed too hard. They aren't. They aren't even tideous or slow. They feel exactly like they felt pre-tuesday. A few of them might take a minute or two longer, but that's it.

 

I literally do not care what you make me out to do. I've done the testing on multiple characters, setting down on all the "high level skills" (including hotkey smashing, high influence companions and 216 gear) to below average levels. Still nothing. Still not considerably longer than before.

 

I'm sorry, even if it is not a scientific poll it can be very well surmised that if one poll from before the patch says 70% liked something and then after the patch 70% of people don't like, and both of those polls are well over 1000 people that you can see a general trend forming. That along with the general outcry on the forums, in the game and elsewhere I can't imagine that this is going over well for those "100's of thousands of people".

 

A pool with barely a thousand participants without clearly establishing data about the participants cannot be taken as factual data or is in no way sufficient to be extrapolated to the whole community. There is a reason opinion polling sheets have data like age groups, political orientation and areas in them. Look at an UK opinion polling for the referendum. You can clearly see how many old/middle aged/young people were in that total number. How many were right? How many left? How many voted party X?

 

I keep saying this, no matter if the poll is on my side or against it: Polls in an MMO forum do not count. Period. I've discussed this change in general chat earlier and twenty people immediately said: "Hm? Companions are fine!" after I mentioned the nerf. Is that factual data too?

Edited November 19, 2015 by Alssaran

[Neoforcer]

Please link this data that shows 100's of thousands of people are unhappy. I would certainly like to see it.

 

Links gen forums with 100k post on the first page wonder why a blind man can see post lol

[cambul]

you either

 

pay attention to the player base, in which case you will already know the answers to these questions, which makes this questionnaire 'fluff, and a stalling process' to quote another player.

 

or

 

you don't pay attention to your player base, because these questions have already been answered by many players, in many threads.

 

either way, it doesn't really look good. i was under the impression this expansion was going to be solo, and casual player friendly... for a few weeks there it really was, and i was extremely impressed... then yesterday happened.

[OmenQ]

Please give us your feedback, and we simply ask you to be as constructive as possible. Include information such as:

• Your level
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating
  
• Discipline
  
• Companion
  
• Companion role
  
• Companion Influence level
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?)
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content
  

-eric

 

So, because I figured I'd run it myself before telling everyone that they're just complaining over nothing, I ran a Heroic Star Fortress last night, solo on my 65 Immortal Juggernaut. His gear is roughly a 208-212 average at the time, though I later discovered that I had the Level 3 Rakghoul Plague relic still equipped instead of my rating 200 defense relic. I know this character very well, I've played him over the past 4 years since he was my first character.

 

I ran with my influence level 14 Lt. Pierce. For most of the run, he was in DPS stance. I had no issues whatsoever with any mobs up to the control room and the Exarch's ambush. Though I nearly died on the Praetorian droid, hitting a well timed defensive cooldown saved my skin. I did die once on the Exarch's ambush, because I was goofing off and forgot to use my heroic moment before then. I also switched Pierce to healing stance at this time, because I knew the long and drawn out Exarch fight was ahead.

 

I didn't die once after that, I had stocked up on a handful of med packs and was ready to abuse the Heroic Moment button on cooldown. I had a bit of a struggle in the second room with the droids, I forgot how to siphon energy off of the exarch and I missed a couple of chances to disable the terminal. But I made it through in the end to the final fight. I took a deep breath, charged in... and spent the next 10 or so minutes bashing away at the Exarch with a full or nearly full health bar. The only time I got near low health was when I missed an interrupt, got stunned, and Pierce stood in a puddle of stupid all at the same time. But I popped Enraged Defense, hit the medpack (finally), and went right back at it.

 

One for All achievement unlocked, on my first attempt at a solo Heroic Star Fortress.

 

It was a challenge, no doubt. But it felt like the right kind of challenge. I didn't die randomly to some RNG overpowered hit, I died because I was slacking off and not paying attention. Pierce didn't even die on the final fight, though it was close once or twice because he stands in targets where things go boom.

 

So now that I've done that, I can confidently say: If you're whining about the One for All achievement not being obtainable by an average player in average gear with an average companion: You're wrong. Slow down, pay attention to your abilities, and check your gear. I'm sure the +75 defense and +145 Mastery that I was missing from my relic would have made a difference, but I managed without it.

Edited November 19, 2015 by OmenQ

[Sarfux]

Could they have been more open about it? Yes. Could they have given us more information before the change happened? Yes (even though they did communicate somewhat). Could they have put it on the PTS and see how people take it? Yes. Should they have kept the companions the way they were because they took out the option to gear them and then bumped up the numbers tremendously to the point where we didn't have to worry too much anymore and we could have fun? Perhaps....

 

Is the game still fun? Yes. Will this kill it? No, but for once, I am actually slightly disappointed in the communication efforts from BioWare for this big change without consulting the game's players first to see how they would take it. I thought the whole reason the companions were very powerful was BECAUSE of the fact that they took away the option to gear them, and the game was changing in several ways, not just one. I'm fine with them having to be nerfed, but it was WAY too much and it just feels like...they don't really do anything anymore.

 

I am still doing my heroics and missions just as I did before. It's just..a little longer and harder. That's all. I did enjoy it a lot before and I'm more of a casual player I guess you can say because I don't go full on hardcore to get gear, I just go along at my pace, so I actually like the companions the way they were. They needed a nerf, but not THIS much. I'm just confused as to why the nerf was so much without REALLY telling us the numbers or anything.

 

God I hope I'm making sense to you all!

 

BioWare, please put the numbers to what they were or close. I really, really, really enjoyed it even more so. I have to be honest. I can see your viewpoint, but just see ours

 

Pssstt..do it for Sarfux

[SGMRock]

It's really not too hard now, it's just so tedious. I don't enjoy having to use my self-heal and wait for every cooldown between every fight.

 

This is how I feel. Yes before the companions were OP but the game had flow, you could keep on going. And when your stupid tank companion Mass Force Pulled everything in site you knew you were ok you could kill it. Now stopping to reload constantly and waiting for heroic moment CD to come back before doing some pulls in SF heroics is just silly waste of time. You are supposed to do this on all your characters or the story might not progress? Thanks for making me not want to play at all now.

[Vember]

I ran a Heroic Star Fortress last night, solo on my 65 Immortal Juggernaut. His gear is roughly a 212-214 average at the time, though I later discovered that I had the Level 3 Rakghoul Plague relic still equipped instead of my rating 200 defense relic. I know this character very well, I've played him over the past 4 years since he was my first character.

 

 

It was a challenge, no doubt. But it felt like the right kind of challenge. I didn't die randomly to some RNG overpowered hit, I died because I was slacking off and not paying attention. Pierce didn't even die on the final fight, though it was close once or twice because he stands in targets where things go boom.

 

So now that I've done that, I can confidently say: If you're whining about the One for All achievement not being obtainable by an average player in average gear with an average companion: You're wrong. Slow down, pay attention to your abilities, and check your gear. I'm sure the +75 defense and +145 Mastery that I was missing from my relic would have made a difference, but I managed without it.

 

You ran it in a tank spec overgeared for the content, found it challenging, and still died, and your'e berating people about not being able to solo it...stop and think about that for a minute and let it sink in.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Vember

[Joefjr]

So, because I figured I'd run it myself before telling everyone that they're just complaining over nothing, I ran a Heroic Star Fortress last night, solo on my 65 Immortal Juggernaut. His gear is roughly a 212-214 average at the time, though I later discovered that I had the Level 3 Rakghoul Plague relic still equipped instead of my rating 200 defense relic. I know this character very well, I've played him over the past 4 years since he was my first character.

 

I ran with my influence level 14 Lt. Pierce. For most of the run, he was in DPS stance. I had no issues whatsoever with any mobs up to the control room and the Exarch's ambush. Though I nearly died on the Praetorian droid, hitting a well timed defensive cooldown saved my skin. I did die once on the Exarch's ambush, because I was goofing off and forgot to use my heroic moment before then. I also switched Pierce to healing stance at this time, because I knew the long and drawn out Exarch fight was ahead.

 

I didn't die once after that, I had stocked up on a handful of med packs and was ready to abuse the Heroic Moment button on cooldown. I had a bit of a struggle in the second room with the droids, I forgot how to siphon energy off of the exarch and I missed a couple of chances to disable the terminal. But I made it through in the end to the final fight. I took a deep breath, charged in... and spent the next 10 or so minutes bashing away at the Exarch with a full or nearly full health bar. The only time I got near low health was when I missed an interrupt, got stunned, and Pierce stood in a puddle of stupid all at the same time. But I popped Enraged Defense, hit the medpack (finally), and went right back at it.

 

One for All achievement unlocked, on my first attempt at a solo Heroic Star Fortress.

 

It was a challenge, no doubt. But it felt like the right kind of challenge. I didn't die randomly to some RNG overpowered hit, I died because I was slacking off and not paying attention. Pierce didn't even die on the final fight, though it was close once or twice because he stands in targets where things go boom.

 

So now that I've done that, I can confidently say: If you're whining about the One for All achievement not being obtainable by an average player in average gear with an average companion: You're wrong. Slow down, pay attention to your abilities, and check your gear. I'm sure the +75 defense and +145 Mastery that I was missing from my relic would have made a difference, but I managed without it.

 

Not every one plays a tank that can take a beating and be ok with weak heals.

[ToBeSomebody]

Oh, for crying out loud. Don't communicate at all? You're the devil incarnate. Communicate a bit? Bad. Ask for feedback? You're bad. Don't ask for feedback? You're the worst.

 

Yes, just go. Don't let the door hit you on your way out. I'd rather play this game for another year without this stuff to read than ten years with it.

 

It's hard to say that this really is a form of communication, or a true request of feedback. Now, before anyone gets too hyped up, I'm of the opinion that 4.0 comps were waaaay overpowered. I'm also of the opinion that they were nerfed waaaay too hard. I've said my thoughts on possible resolutions to these issues and I'm not going to reiterate them for this particular post.

 

What I am going to do is request that you, with an open mind, go and read the original post of this thread once more. I'd like to say I've done that, though I can't deny that I'm feeling pretty upset right now so my judgment could easily be a little skewed. Whether it is or isn't my current viewpoint is this; Eric is not asking for proper feedback nor is he 'communicating' in an appropriate way about the issue. He's asking us to validate that they were correct in making those choices by means of metric data, not by means of player satisfaction. Personally this is what has me more disturbed than any of the changes that have been made: the customer care aspect of it all.

[Pellerinen]

Well, this is how it has always been... they introduce a new patch that improves things, makes the game more fun for those who do not overly enjoy wasting hours and hours of time completing content that gives them a few crystals they do not need. And, as soon as it turns out something has changed, endangering some precious achievements, whiners whine and complainers complain, and Bioware retaliates with a complete overkill. As others have said before me, tedious, boring and not worth doing does not equal challenging and fun.

[Vyko]

Speaking as someone that was here at launch and left after several months because of the grind and came back about a week after the new expansion:

 

Your level: 36

Roughly Average Item Rating: mid 40's

Discipline: Commando Trooper

Companion: Aric Jorgen (Influence 14)

Companion role - Healer

Companion Influence level

Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?) Finding the Path (but really, all leveling Class quests since the patch)

Your personal experience while playing this content

Jorgen is useless as a healer if I encounter more than 3 normal mobs. The 2-3 times I've encountered two strong mobs at once, I died, even while using CC on one of them. The CC breaks faster than the cooldown, and his healing ability simply isn't up to covering the incoming damage. Not even close. Let's put it this way; I've died more to leveling mobs more since the patch than I did in the previous 3 weeks on all toons combined, Heroics and Star Fortresses included.

[OmenQ]

Not every one plays a tank that can take a beating and be ok with weak heals.

 

OK, I'll run it on my Merc too.

[Satsuke]

It's really not too hard now, it's just so tedious. I don't enjoy having to use my self-heal and wait for every cooldown between every fight.

 

This so hard, specifically about the tedious aspect. TSW was like this for me until they revamped the open world a while back and reduced enemy hp/damage to make combat a bit faster. Ended up picking up a lifetime sub to the game at that point since I love the **** outta the story and don't necessarily dislike the combat, but felt that it was too drawn out and the time spent regenning between fights was boring.

 

SWTOR stopped feeling tedious and felt very snappy/fun to play (even if the companions could have stood a small nerf) and I could breeze to the meaty parts of the game - the story.

[Akeashar]

So now that I've done that, I can confidently say: If you're whining about the One for All achievement not being obtainable by an average player in average gear with an average companion: You're wrong. Slow down, pay attention to your abilities, and check your gear. I'm sure the +75 defense and +145 Mastery that I was missing from my relic would have made a difference, but I managed without it.

 

Now do it again with a Sith Marauder, or a Sniper perhaps. A tank complaining that they have no issues with survivability when they're built solely around survivability is a joke and most of the people in these threads realize this. Having followed the threads on the issue since the change, its easy to see that the vast majority of people saying they're not having any issues, and people should just learn to play,are tanks while those that say that they are having issues are DPS, followed up by healers.